Watch: Jeff Bridges talks about getting digital in ‘TRON: Legacy’

Jeff Bridges has entered a new stage of his career, one that very few actors ever reach.

When he started in this business, he was “Lloyd Bridges’ son.” After his first few roles of note, movies like “The Last Picture Show” and “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” he became a working actor and an Oscar nominee. With his work in recent years in films like “The Big Lebowski” and last year’s “Crazy Heart,” he has become a beloved screen icon, and it seems like the love for him just keeps growing.

So once you become a legend, what’s left to accomplish?

How about co-starring in a movie with a 35-year-old version of yourself?

My review of “TRON: Legacy” will be here on the site on December 5th, but until then, we’ll be bringing you some chats with the cast of the highly-anticipated sequel to 1982’s cult film, and where better to start than with Obi-Wan Lebowski himself?

As much as any of the special effects in the film, which are certainly remarkable, it is the appeal of Bridges that seems to be drawing people to the film, and without him, it would be unthinkable. And talking to him about the film, it’s obvious that he is intrigued by the technical toys he got to play with, which is no surprise to me at this point.

For all the resistance I hear from organizations like SAG in public to some of the motion-capture and performance-capture developments, every single performer I speak with who has actually gone through the process ends up enjoying it and feeling more connected to the pure art of acting than they have in years. Malkovich, Hopkins, Bridges… all of them have spoken with real enthusiasm about how much fun they had, and I think we’re still in early days. We’re looking at the early days of sound here, as some performers decry the technical advance because they are afraid of what will happen to their part in the process, while other performers jump in and realize that this is just one more tool they can use, and nothing to be afraid of.

Check out Mr. Bridges, and then keep checking back as we’ll have interviews with Michael Sheen, Olivia Wilde, Garrett Hedlund and more here for you as we count down to the release of “TRON: Legacy” on Dec. 17th.

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When are you posting a review? Your old boss already has, but I like your reviews MUCH better. :)

By: Anonymous

12.03.2010 @ 12:00 AM

Since Drew is waiting until Sunday to post I’m guessing he’ll be a tad more critical than Harry.

Which tells me that either a) there are some story issues (it falls flat, doesn’t quite work, is missing something) or b) the Bridges CGI doesn’t cut it. Or both.

By: Anonymous

12.03.2010 @ 12:47 AM

Well, funny enough, many reviewers have an embargo and CAN’T post a review until Sunday. I guess people who like the film don’t have to abide the embargo?

By: DefRef

12.03.2010 @ 2:36 AM

Regarding the bigotry against performance capture, last year some goon in EW was sneering about how performances like Zoe Saldana’s in Avatar shouldn’t be recognized by the Academy because it wasn’t REAL acting, but something that could be massaged by animators after the fact; as if a director making a live actor do 50 takes and then the editor slicing it to make it look like they reacted in a specific manner is natural.

Anyone who thinks CGI films have no human input needs to watch the extras on the Avatar 3-disk Blu-ray and educate themselves as to how – as Bridges mentions in this interview – they have to emote while wearing a scuba suit and ping pong balls while standing on an empty stage. Sure, technicians polish the product and wag the tails, but it’s anything but the presumed sterily typing on a computer, “10 – Act. 20 – Goto 10.”

BTW, after watching how Cameron actually composed the film with virtual cameras months after the afters performed in the empty space reinforces what a mistake it was to go for the tokenism of giving Bigelow the Best Director Oscar. Yes, the script for Avatar was its Achilles heel – UWe Boll at his worst couldn’t botch something as terrible as the Basil Exposition scene where Selfridge explains “why we’re here” to Grace; with all the years it took to make the film, Cameron couldn’t find a hamster to type up something better? That said, any competent director could’ve made The Hurt Locker; only James Cameron could’ve made Avatar. He should’ve been recognized.

By: Anonymous

12.03.2010 @ 2:41 AM

See, this is what’s getting me excited about Tron: Legacy. Over the last few months, I’m constantly having to hear about “first generation” Tron fans, both on the net and personally. I’m not one of them. I’m too young. I don’t have that built in mechanism to be jumping-out-of-my-pants excited for this movie. But, I am a Jeff Bridges fan, and my pants are long gone in celebration of this career high he’s been having recently. He’s a treasure, and it’s a ticket sold.